Blake Hetherington is a standout midfielder on the ADVNC SF & NDP ‘24 squads committed to play at Harvard University, starting next Fall.
Blake was first drawn to lacrosse when he saw his older brother Grant playing for the first time. “I copied whatever Grant did,” Blake said. “He and his friends all played so I started playing with them back when I was in Kindergarten.”
Blake and Grant’s dad, Brian, played lacrosse in high school and a year of club lacrosse in college at Northwestern. He coached his two oldest boys on the same Riptide rec league team in San Francisco early on. “Looking back on those teams, I really didn’t love lacrosse,” said Blake. “I just played because my brother did and I contemplated quitting lacrosse. But when my family moved down to Hillsborough, and I started playing for the Coyotes, I really learned to love the game. The game got more physical and I just loved scoring goals.”
Blake (left) with Matt Higgins after a Coyotes game.
Shortly after that, Blake joined ADVNC. “I started looking for a bigger challenge and found ADVNC,” said Blake. “I started with ADVNC in the summer before 4th grade. I met a lot of new friends, and 75% of them are still some of my best friends today. Everyone was super nice. Everyone was playing at a high level.”
“The extra level of coaching that ADVNC provided really helped Blake get a lot better,” Brian Hetherington said. “Then we started traveling to tournaments with some of the other ADVNC families, and they started becoming our very good friends. It was suddenly more than lacrosse, and our lacrosse family became our family.”
“After he started playing with ADVNC, he was obsessed with lacrosse,” said Blake’s mom, Jill Hetherington. “I remember walking into his room one day, and I noticed that he had a piece of paper taped up by the light switch and he had written: ‘hard work pays off.’ I knew then, he was willing to do the work that is required.”
Blake on his first ADVNC team in the 3rd grade.
“I've always wanted to be the best player on the field,” Blake said. “I’ve always wanted to be the best in every facet of life. With that, comes hard work. I knew that if I put in the work, I could go as far as I wanted.”
Blake said his dream to play DI college lacrosse started as soon as he joined ADVNC. “Seeing all the other ADVNC players going to college that came through the program before me, allowed me to know that it was possible for me to do the same thing,” Blake said.
That goal became a reality when September 1, 2022 came, and Blake’s phone became inundated with college coaches from the highest levels of college lacrosse. “It was overwhelming,” Blake said. “I had a good amount of schools reach out right away, and I thought it was pretty crazy. Just seeing the caliber of coaches reaching out was amazing. Visiting each campus was surreal and it was such an honor to have conversations with such legendary coaches.”
Blake scoring the game winner in OT for ADVNC NDP at the ‘21 Crabfeast Tourney.
The Hetherington’s credit ADVNC Founder & CEO, as well as Blake’s High School Coach at Sacred Heart Prep, Chris Rotelli for helping guide them through the recruiting process. “Coach Rotelli set a good roadmap as to which events Blake needed to attend over the past few years,” said Brian Hetherington. “For example, at the Juniors Open, where all the college coaches were in attendance, having the familiarity of playing in front of all the coaches was helpful for Blake because it helped him not be intimidated at future events where there were lots of college coaches watching him.”
“The recruiting process was stressful for me,” Blake said. “Coach Rotelli helped relieve some of that stress by always being positive. Even after a bad game or tournament, he’d tell me to stay positive and always do my best. That message was really helpful.”
Blake visited a number of DI programs, but Harvard became his top choice.
“On the day we visited Harvard,” recalled Jill Hetherington, “We went into Coach Byrne’s office, (Gerry Byrne, Head Coach of Harvard) for the second time, and he said to Blake, how would you like to play lacrosse at Harvard? Blake said, I’d love to play lacrosse at Harvard, and the two of them shook hands. It all came together very quickly.”
“In addition to lacrosse, I’ve worked really hard in school also,” Blake said. “So to get to attend one of the best academic schools in the world is awesome. Plus, the coaching staff has a vision of wanting to win the National Championship, and not a lot of teams presented that vision in the same way. They’re very organized. I was very impressed.”
Blake said that when he was a freshman at Sacred Heart Prep, he looked up with reverence to the senior class of 2021. Many of those players played for ADVNC. He said he especially looks up to rising Notre Dame junior midfielder, and ADVNC alum, Ben Ramsey. “Ben is like my big brother,” said Blake. “He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve seen. A great leader. To see him win the national championship this year at Notre Dame was super awesome. He’s so deserving of that. He’s a do it all player, and that’s exactly what I try to be like on the field.”
Blake has the following advice for young players who admire his game. “If you want to be great, you have to put in the work,” said Blake. “Not to be cliche, but it’s like the sticker I wrote and put up in my room: the hard work pays off. You have to love what you’re doing, or else you won’t want to do the work. And school always comes before lacrosse. Trying your hardest in both school and lacrosse is really important.”
The Hetherington’s have this advice for parents of passionate young players. “Follow the child’s lead,” said Jill Hetherington. “As long as they’re saying, please can I play this sport, on this team or at this tournament, then keep going. But when the kid is saying: ugh, do I have to? Then it might not be the right thing for them.”
“Playing a travel sport at a high level can be difficult for the whole family,” said Brian Hetherington. “Finding the balance between school, work, and the schedules that go along with practice, tournaments and traveling can be tough, but it also brings out the best of a lot of different aspects of life. Lacrosse is an amazing sport and the community is absolutely incredible. It opens doors that otherwise might not open. I’m really happy Blake has loved it so much.”